Flexible mounting for carrying rollers on vehicles



March 15, 1938. KEGRE$$E 2,111,475

FLEXIBLE MOUNTING FOR CARRYING ROLLERS ON VEHICLES Filed Dec. 10, 1955 aADOLPHE KEQR'ESSE Patented Mar. 15, 1938 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICEFLEXIBLE MOUNTING FOR CARRYING ROLLERS ON VEHICLES Adolphe Kgresse,Paris, France 1 Claim.

The French Patent No. 752,959 of the 13th July, 1932 describes aflexible mounting for the equalizer of a set of rollers on one of theparts adjoining the chassis of the vehicle.

This resilient mounting, although giving good results in practice, isincomplete.

In fact, if a unit formed by a carrying bogie having two rollers isconsidered, it will be seen that the rollers are mounted rigidly on theequalizer or equalizers .connecting them, so that, on imperfectly flatground, the rollers do not bear on the endless track throughout theentire widths of their rims. This results in unavoidable overloads,tending to create wedging which is very harmful to the track, especiallywhen the latter is made of rubberized fabric.

In other words, the rollers do not work normally to the ground and theiraxes almost always make a more or less pronounced angle with the latter.

The present invention relates to a mounting for the endless-trackcarrying bogie rollers on their equalizer, enabling them to worknormally to the ground.

In the accompanying drawings by way of example:-

Figure 1 is a side elevation, partly in section along lines l--l ofFigs. 2 and 3, of a construction according to the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the construction.

Fig. 3 is an end view of the construction, the sectioned part of whichis taken on line 3-3 of Figs. 1 and 2.

Fig. 4 is a view similar to Fig. 3 with the front roller removed, thesectioned part of this figure being taken on line 44 of Figs. 1 and 2.

In the figures, the carrying train is a system of double rollersconnected in pairs by means of two like equalizers disposed exteriorlyof the rollers.

The rollers I of the carrying bogie are connected to the equalizer 2.The latter is mounted on the machine by means of resilient blocks 3 forexample of rubber housed in the said equalizer 2. A cross-shaped part 4secured to a part 5 fixed to the vehicle separates the blocks 3 fromeach other. v

The equalizers 2 terminate at each of their ends in a cylindrical part 6which carries a sleeve 1 of rubber or other flexible material fixed on 5the cylindrical part B of the equalizers 2.

The sleeve '1 is forcibly fitted in a head 8 secured to the axle 9 ofthe rollers I.

In the drawings, the resilient sleeve 1 is shown above the axis of therollers. It is evident that it 10 may also be below the said axis, andeven in line therewith, without in any way altering the idea of theinvention.

It will be seen from this description that the rollers connected totheir equalizer by a flexible l5 coupling can remain constantly parallelto the ground tothe extent permitted by the resilient systems 3 and I.It should be remarked that in the very considerable unevennesses of theground, the deformation of the system will be limited resiliently by thecompression of the resilient materials 3 and l.

The system described and shown in the drawings may be applied to anycarrying system having rollers mounted on oscillating equalizers, theaxles of the rollers being always adapted to be connected to theirsupport according to the invention. That is to say, the device describedmay be applied equally well both to single equalizer systems havingexternal rollers and to double equalizer mountings as described.

I claim:

In an endless track vehicle, a carrying roller support, an equalizingbeam elastically mounted intermediate its ends on each side of saidsupport, a cylindrical element carried by each end of said equalizingbeams, the axes of said cylindrical elements being parallel to thelongitudinal axes of the equalizing beams, a. sleeve of resilientmaterial surrounding each of said cylindrical elements, an axle carryingblock surrounding each sleeve, an axle extending between correspondingpairs of blocksat each end of the equalizing beams, and rollers mountedon said axles.

ADOLPHE KEGRESSE. 6

